I have another question, this time for Ms. Nancy Hughes Anthony. In your presentation this morning, you said — or rather, you wrote — the following: “Since so much of the trouble internationally has its roots in the U.S. mortgage market ...” in reference to the global financial and economic crisis. I believe you are absolutely correct when you state that the crisis originated in the United States, particularly in connection with the mortgage market. Some American politicians wanted to promote home ownership a few years ago in the United States, and as you know better than I do, they encouraged American banks to give loans to insolvent people, or people who were unable to make a down payment on a residence. They encouraged American banks to do so through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which guaranteed these loans. Then, and you put it very well, these loans were turned into securities on the international market, some banks acquired these toxic securities, and now we find ourselves facing a financial crisis.
Much has been said about Canada's banking system. Here in Canada, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the CMHC, has regulations that ensure that Canadians, in order to buy a home, must put down an initial down payment of at least 5% of the value of the dwelling in question. So we are not at all in the same situation as Americans are.
There has been much discussion about our financial and banking system; you said so. Even the World Economic Forum did not hesitate to state that our system is the most solid system in the world. President Obama even said that his country should use our system as a model. All this is very well and good, and very flattering, but I would like to ask you the following question: in practical terms, have Canadian banks and commercial banking institutions done things all that differently than other banks throughout the world?